The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-04-14

uO 'us OuuJOl' b'i ~ l'' lu'A ~ AZ VI III
ad ress, whlrn IL one Of uUu u1l worth
especial y to th"-a ss ctRted sud inter
ested IN the cause Of edu auuU:
"BeiuteOus ars IN, ,'u woods
Her forests vas h,r vr.In II weru;
love IN trace her 0fJ groves
And sit beneath her vlncclad bowers.
Upright and bland uhio's cline.
Where sheds the h mi dest beams;
Where b. light he Rilds the evening clouds
With hues more sofJ TN, n fairy dreams
"LuXuTiant OhlO's soil,
Where hilIs AID woods and fields are green;
Where Ceres pO rs her Visn hon
AND freedom smiles IN every scene
so sang Ma hsu Gu ord, the father
of The ONO schoOl svs m a half century
ago, and so sing we III our joyous hearts
this dedication dty.
As ci iZens of great State we should
feel deVoutly thsnkfnl to the Ruler OF
men and to the GiVer If every good for
what he has VOuchsafpd to us. The his
tOric parallel of forty d grees north ii
tude upon which thp nOblest nations
# the world are strung Ike costly
pearls upon silver chain, Is tangent 10
our capital city and the site Of the
building In which we are Is but days
| journey from the center Of our cOnnlTy's
population.
The powers of the ages have cOnspiTed
to make Ohio great. In the misty past
| silurian life was developing the lime
| stone which has made ihe Miami valley
| so famous for Its pr( ductiveness. In
later centuries the coal measures we're
| bulldPd on our eBs pTn borders. We
| enjoy the usufTuct Of oreAn currents, of
Tsine, and Ice, and SNOW. We are for
tunate ia our ancestry the majority of
whom came from civilized and Chris.
tian lands, 1t was well for US that the
narrow Atlantic instead of the broad
Pacific was made to separate Europe
from North America. Had the relBt We
positions of the oceans been changed,
| this continent to- day would have been
| controlled by tie discip eS Of COnfncius.
We aTe fortunate In that our fOref8th
| PTs were from Great Britain. In the
seventeenth century during which this
| country was cO'Oni2et, no people In the
world 70 sessed o Be neE appreciation OF
political and religious liberty than the
followers Of John CRyvtT and Captain
John Smith, and it is t. Plymouth and
| Jamestown that we tTbCe the origin
of the most that Is Valus Bile IN Our Gus.
toms and laws. C0lOniZed by cOnveTg
| ing streams of immlgIAllOn from Mas
sRchusetts, Connecticut, New YORK, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, MARYLAND aud Viz
l'ginia, Ohio was fOun ed by men who
were representatives of the highest type
of freemen that the eighteenth century
rrOduced Hardy, brave, ,iDtelngpntauO
ltbfrty.loVing, they firmly bUilded the
new State upon the enduring granite Of
patriotism, knowledge, morality and
religion. That these men huilded wise
ly and well is att sted by the history Of
our State and country. As farmers, me
| chanics, manufacturers, scholars, sol
dlers and statesmen, the sons of OHIO
occupy commanding positions among
men.
me Plfments of greatness in State
are many. One Of the agencies that HI S
contributed to the growth and progress
IF Ohio is public education. Before the
close OF the first quarter Of the present
century the State colleges, 0ns at Ath.
ens, the other at Oxford, had been es-
tablishod, common schC Ois bad been or
ganized in every county. and a number
of pu0lic libraries had been begun
Fifty years ago Samuel Lewis was aD-
pointed State Superintendent Of PuOllc
Schools Ia Ohio. In 1853 our present
system of common school,, which 10.
cludes the public High SGrOOl, wa, cT9
ated. Even the civil war did not dl.
minish tho interest Of our pc pie in the
subject of education. Tbs OHIO State
University was virtually founded iu
1864 by an act Of the General Assembly,
which provided for the acc ptance OF
the land grant made by Congress In
1862. Nor have the uufOrtu ate classes
of youth been forgotten In Ohio In Bil
these years. Institutions for the edQca-
tiOn Of The blind, the deaf, the dunn,
The feeble minded and the orphaned
have been established, Ildeed 1t may
be said that In cur State the opp0Etuni
ties to obtain an education is given
every child without money and without
price.
The common schools lie at the base of
our educational system. These schools
provide course of instruction UhiGb,
ii completed, enables young man or y
young woman to enter the frpshms q
class Of good college In the common
echoOls the hrst eight years are occupied
with elementary education. Here the
great mass of the people school their
children for the business which shall be
their pursuit In maturer years. Lam
guBge, number, and In the best schools,
the elements of music and drawing con-
stitute the course Of study. Well 1t Ia
for the child that his elementary educa-
tlOn is thorough and complete.
In the public schools, secondary edu-
cation Is represented by the high school
which, under our system, Is as legili-
mate part Of the peoples schools as the
primary grades, and should be as care
fully f0stered by boards of education as
any Of the schools entrusted 10 their
direction.
The public high school i5 the connect.
ing link between the elementary school
and the State colleges, of which we now
have three.
1t seems to me that Ohio should b3dl
Vided into college districts, and that the
courses of study pursued in our high
schools should be such as to end where
the college curTlcula ct Athens Oxford
and Columbus begins Such an ar
rangement would help, rather than in.
jnre, private schools, for these schools |
are supported In the main by those who |
have been pupils In public schools. |
Whatever tends to improve the scholar
ship OF our children In their earlier |
years must contribute to the welfare of |
all secondary schools, be they under |
State control or directed by private en-
terprise.
Thus far Ohio has, as State, done but |
little for professional education. At
least two Of the five Of the great States
which we're carved out Of the northwest
territory put US to the blush when we
compare the professional training given
unnnn, man and mnman Mt Ann Arhnr q nd